Marine bumpers and fenders generally are well known devices for preventing direct contact between a floating boat and marine structures such as pilings, docks, etc.
In a dock installation, bumpers are conventionally constructed so as to be tacked or nailed in place at a desired location. Nailing of these devices causes damage to docks and some boat and yacht harbors ban installations of this type.
Straps have been utilized with bumpers or fenders secured to pilings, with the straps disposed between an inner plastic foam core and an outer sleeve. Such an arrangement is not effective to hold bumpers in place. Slippage can readily occur, allowing the bumpers to move out of position.
The following United States patents are believed to be representative of the current state of the prior art in this field: U.S. Pat. No. 5,018,471, issued May 28, 1991, U.S. Pat. No. 1,877,793, issued Sep. 20, 1932, U.S. Pat. No. 3,475,914, issued Nov. 4, 1969, U.S. Pat. No. 6,752,098, issued Jun. 22, 2004, U.S. Pat. No. 6,758,156, issued Jul. 6, 2004, U.S. Pat. No. 4,964,760, issued Oct. 23, 1990, U.S. Pat. No. 3,179,397, issued Apr. 20, 1965, U.S. Pat. No. 2,960,055, issued Nov. 15, 1960, U.S. Pat. No. 3,540,403, issued Nov. 17, 1970, U.S. Design Pat. No. D473,508, issued Apr. 22, 2003 and U.S. Design Pat. No. D452,466, issued Dec. 25, 2001.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,018,471 is of interest since it discloses a resilient marine fender secured to pilings of marine structures by straps which encircle the pilings. In one embodiment of the device of U.S. Pat. No. 5,018,471, a lengthwise portion of each strap of several strap assemblies is bonded within an associated bumper portion by molding the bumper portion about the strap. Such an approach makes it impossible to replace or interchange the strapping. This may be desirable, for example, when the strapping becomes worn or is of a size or length not appropriate for a particular application.